I can’t remember a winter with so much snow and so many good times on my snowboard. The time spent in lift lines to powder turn ratio is at an all time high, in the good way, thanks to splitboarding. With such an all-time winter winding down, I continue to feel fortunate to spend season after season chasing storms with close pals.
In late November I spent a few days trying to catch a glimpse at Crater Lake covered in snow with riders Destry Serna and Stratton Matteson. We didn’t end up seeing much, but we did sleep on the ground in the national park public restroom to escape the blizzard outside.
After that I spent a few weeks up in Washington where it seemed to never stop snowing (and still hasn’t), before heading south to Mt. Shasta, California. I grew up riding Shasta, but we never really did much splitboarding in those days, so it’s always my goal to tap into new zones whenever I’m back home. On this visit I linked up with newly transplanted Todd Kirby, who’s first year riding Shasta just happened to be the best in years, by far. At Shasta theres not a lot of people to fight with over fresh tracks, so needless to say, he definitely scored big time.
From California I went back to Oregon, linking up with Destry and Stratton again in the process. With Tim and Hanna Eddy in tow too, we spent a week skinning around Central Oregon, riding Mt Bachelor and Willamette Pass.
My last location of travel was a sled trip deep into the North Cascades via HWY 20 with riders Kael Martin and Johnny Brady. Holy smokes; if you’ve ever climbed in the North Cascades in the summer you know how insane the terrain is out there. On top of the 20+ mile sled in every morning we attempted to split up the towering peaks above the highway. Even with the weather trying its best to make it as difficult as possible, we still scored some insane pow.
Not bad for just a handful of months in even fewer states. Shout out Mother Nature for this one.
